KIM’S CONVENIENCE at Riverside Studios

★★★

“The performances were a pleasure to watch; each actor showing great nuance and detail in their characterisation”

Ins Choi’s ‘Kim’s Convenience’ returns to London this month at Riverside Studios, with Choi reprising his lead role of Appa. A play that has seen vast success over the years, including a five season television series, following its original performance at Toronto Fringe Festival in 2011. The sitcom feel to the show is strong in this iteration, however, I fear it lets the material itself down.

Appa runs his store ‘Kim’s Convenience’ under seemingly peaceful circumstances, until one day a local corporate businessman offers to buy it – following the announcement of a new Walmart to be built in the area. This man inspires him to come to the decision he wants to retire. The play then follows Appa’s quest to convince one of his unsatisfied children to take over the store.

One of the greatest highlights of this show is the design. Mona Camille provides the audience with an incredibly realistic set of a convenience store – including bright and colourful details of various products on sale including many Korean and Canadian snacks. The lighting (Jonathan Chan) also reflects the just a little bit too bright environment very familiar among retail establishments. The performances were a pleasure to watch; each actor showing great nuance and detail in their characterisation. Miles Mitchell deserves particular praise for his excellence in multi-roling (Rich, Mr Lee, Mike, Alex), with an eclectic mix of accents and personas on display. Choi has a clear and colourful understanding of the character he has written and welcomes the audience beautifully into Appa’s world throughout.

Where the play falls flat is in its lack of character development and the deus ex machina conclusion. The audience is told that Appa’s son Jung (Edward Wu) is basically estranged from the family, except from occasionally seeing his mother Umma (Namju Go) at Church. Their lack of relationship is said to be due to previous abuse. When given this context I was quite shocked, as all previous examples of physical manhandling (arguably assault) are played off as a joke. Suddenly, the show darkened for me at that point. Jung and Appa do rekindle their relationship – yet this is done in the space of about five minutes, and Appa doesn’t really do any work to apologise to, or heal with his son.

Appa also displays a lot of mistreatment towards his underappreciated daughter Janet (Jennifer Kim). This being a combination of patronising her, dismissing her career and her relationship status and throwing props at her. All is resolved, however, when Janet gets a boyfriend! I understand that Appa is meant to be a flawed character and the story isn’t trying to be groundbreaking in it’s dysfunctional family narrative, but it just feels like too many flaws to overlook as just the loving father who we love in spite of everything. Because his love is seemingly dependent on his children submitting to his will. The comedy that comes from this is continuous throughout the show yet I must say not particularly to my taste.

The show ‘Kevin Can F*** Himself’ comes to mind with this play. The classic loveable rogue father leads the plot, yet at the expense of the other characters playing along with his narrative. Overall making the play feel rather dated and out of touch.

KIM’S CONVENIENCE at Riverside Studios

Reviewed on 11th September 2024

by David Robinson

Photography by Danny Kaan

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE WEYARD SISTERS | ★★ | August 2024

MADWOMEN OF THE WEST | ★★ | August 2024

MOFFIE | ★★★ | June 2024

KING LEAR | ★★★★ | May 2024

THIS IS MEMORIAL DEVICE | ★★★★ | April 2024

ARTIFICIALLY YOURS | ★★★ | April 2024

ALAN TURING – A MUSICAL BIOGRAPHY | ★★ | January 2024

ULSTER AMERICAN | ★★★★★ | December 2023

OTHELLO | ★★★★ | October 2023

FLOWERS FOR MRS HARRIS | ★★★★ | October 2023

RUN TO THE NUNS – THE MUSICAL | ★★★★ | July 2023

THE SUN WILL RISE | ★★★ | July 2023

Kim’s Convenience

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★★★★

“an incredibly fun, comedic and beautifully heart-warming show that everyone can enjoy”

Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s ‘Why am I So Single?’ debuts in the West End, following the writers’ extremely successful ‘Six’. This new musical cleverly follows a meta portrayal of the pair exploring the issues of their love life and by proxy their own personal issues. The two best friends – under the pseudonyms ‘Nancy’ and ‘Oliver’ – sit in Oliver’s flat after being given the task of writing their next big fancy musical, and after various discussions of their failed dates decide that’s what the musical should be about. Through the medium of many a big fancy musical number, the conclusion of their failed love lives is far more heart-warming than one would expect.

The show opens with its meta framing of the narrative, with the writers talking to us directly through the characters. They state that all stories in the show are based on true events but with all people given different names. Set designer Moi Tran and costume designer Max Johns deserve so much credit for the way the stage moves from having literal set pieces and then ensemble actors seemingly transition to replace them. This was extremely enjoyable to watch and added a lot of fantastic comedic elements – my favourite being whenever the leads interacted with the human rubbish bin. The whole design of the show makes you feel like you’re at a party throughout – with the lighting (Jai Morjaria) primarily being a mix of pink and purple washes that change in time with the music.

The performances throughout the show are stellar and every single cast member is extremely committed. The ensemble shine throughout in both their musical and comedic performances. A mention has to go to Noah Thomas who plays Artie – an extremely strong performance that showed care and empathy for the leads while also telling them the truth when they need to hear it. One of his numbers is also a fantastic tap routine and a great tap routine is always a pleasure to watch. But, of course, the stars of the show are Jo Foster as Oliver and Leesa Tulley as Nancy. Both are incredibly powerful artists and were a pleasure to watch on stage. Foster particularly shines in the number ‘Disco Ball’, where they really are giving the audience everything and it’s such a privilege to be able to see such beautiful vulnerability on stage. Tulley’s performance also shows off her incredible vocal range and talent, and her solo ‘Lost’ brought many people in the audience to tears.

One of my favourite numbers was ‘Meet Market’ – not only a great song with fantastic routines on stage, but also great commentary on the dehumanising nature of dating apps. There were some songs that I felt weren’t necessary and took focus away from the main plotline. The main one I took issue with was a song about a bee, which seemingly is only in the show for the sake of one word play based joke. Unfortunate because two and a half hours already feels quite long for this show, so when the number played at the end of Act 1, I did begin to get quite restless.

‘Why am I So Single?’ is an incredibly fun, comedic and beautifully heart-warming show that everyone can enjoy. Musical theatre millennial fans will particularly enjoy the many show references and referrals to Friends. And with the West End musical scene sticking with its theme of even more movie musicals, it’s great to see something new and fresh bringing heart and soul into the theatre.

KIM’S CONVENIENCE at Riverside Studios

★★★

“The performances were a pleasure to watch; each actor showing great nuance and detail in their characterisation”

KIM’S CONVENIENCE at Riverside Studios